Yarn cleaner



July 22, 1941- E. A. FEusTEL AYARN CLEANER Filed Sept. 13, 1939 @zl. no

Z 2 Z d..

Patented July 22, 1941 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE YARN CLEANER Ernest A. Feustel, Hasbrouck Heights, N. J.

Application September 13, 1939, ,Serial No.` 294,698

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a certain new and useful yarn cleaner and particularly to a yarn cleaner for cleaning natural silk, although it may be applicable to other yarns.

Natural silk yarn in the `original skein contains, or has adhering to the silk filament, certain natural impurities and foreign matter, generally referred to as ffuzz and the slacks and the fslubs and the knobsj and also other dirt which adheres to the lament. These irregularities adhering to the filament of silk are sometimes slightly gummy adhesions, which are a natural irregularity or impurity in the silk.

To remove or minimize the slubs, fuzz, slacks, knobs and other dirt on the silk illament, it has been the practice heretofore to place brushes and combs or sets of knives in the path of travel of the silk fllament, as from the skein Winder reel to the spool and sometimes also on the twisting machines, from the supply spool to the spool on which the yarn is twisted. By running the silk filaments through a brush and then through a comb or through knives, as it travels from the supply spools to the tension rolls on a twisting machine, some of these slubs, fuzz, slacks, knobs and other dirt are removed or attempted to be removed.

The distance between the knives sometimes used as silk-yarn cleaners is generally adjusted to accommodate the thickness of the silk lament. These knives possess the disadvantage of maintaining a xed and inflexible clearance for the lament notwithstanding the slight variations in filament thickness and the thickness of the knots which unite end-to-end the successive laments, and also possesses the disadvantage of not fully encircling the silk filament, and not contacting its entire circumference, but at best only contacting it tangentially at two diametrically opposite points.

The present invention contemplates a more effective and eilicient yarn cleaning means to replace the brushes and combs now in use, and one which may be produced at a low cost, coupled also with a low costof replacement.

Referring to the drawing in which like reference characters indicate like parts,

Figure l represents a perspective view of the yarn cleaning device of the present invention, on approximately full size scale, but with the thickness of the yarn much exaggerated in order to permit its more ready illustration.

Figure 2 represents a section on line 2 2 of Figure 1.

I have found that a certain natural product known as the teasel or fullers teasel, when applied singly or in multiples to more or less taut silk filament in motion, will produce a desirable cleaning effect upon the silk filament without impairing it, that is, without skiving or cutting or in any Way abrading it.

The teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) has heretofore been generally used for raising a nap upon woolen cloth. The awned ilower-head or bur which is generally referred to as the teasel bears a large number of irregularly staggered resiliently stiff hooked bracts or awns of more or less uniform size which taper to a point and the edges of which are fairly sharpand which, once dried, are water-repellent.

I have found that by more or less rapidly passing or pulling a silk yarn, preferably prior to twisting, and preferably the individual silk laments or threads thereof, through one or. more teasels in a direction generally parallel to the axis of the teasel and preferably with the concave side Aof the curved or hooked barbs of the teasel facing the oncoming thread or filament or with the convex side of the curved or hooked barbs of the teasel facing the direction of travel of the thread or lament, a very effective and.

eiicient cleaning of the silk thread or filament may be obtained without damage to the silk lilament itself.

One embodiment of the present invention may comprise a pair of teasels I and 2 intermeshed with each other as indicated particularly in Figure 2, through which the silk yarn or preferably the individual silk filament 3 is then passed in more or less taut condition and which is generally moved from the spools carrying the individual filaments to the spool which carries the twisted yarn on a twisting machine.

The teasels l and 2 may be mounted upon more or less stationary prongs 4 and 5 of preferably square or triangular crosssection or some other irregular cross-section so as .to prevent the rotation of the teasels upon the prongs. The prongs 4 and 5 are extended through the pithy centers 6 of the teasels, generally in the line of the axis of the teasel. The prongs 4 and 5 may be suitably supported in movable or adjustable relation to each other, so that the two teasels constituting a pair may be separated fiom each U-shaped spring or resilient metallicL yoke 'I having the arms 8 and 9 in the connecting base portion I0. To increase the extent to which the arms 8 and 9 may be deiiected towards and away from each other within the elastic limit of the metal used, one or more coil-like or helical turns may be formed at IIv and I2 at the juncture of the arms 8 and 9 with the transverse or basal portion IIJ, so as to permit the arms 8 and 9 to be more readily deflected towards and away from each other in the directions of the arrows I3 and I4.

The bends I5 and I6 in the wire constituting the arms 8 and 9 and prongs 4 and 5` may also serve as a stop or abutment for one end of the teasels I and 2 and also to limit the extent as to which the teasels are threaded onto the prongs 4 and 5 and so as to prevent any axial shifting of the teasels during the course of operation.

The tension in the arms 8 and 9 may be so arranged that in the untensioned or unobstructed position the prongs 4 and 5. would be spaced substantially closer to each other than the diameter of a teasel, so that the tension in the teaselsupport 'I will tend to intermesh the pair of teasels I and 2 inthe manner indicated in Figure 2. When it is desired to remove the teasels or 'when'it is desired merely to separate'them from each other for the purposes of inserting the'yarn or thread therebetween, it is merely necessary to pull the teasels apart in the direction of the ar-l rows Id against the tension of the support '1. They will thereafter return totheir Vintermeshed position. Y

Y Ii desired, tension adjustment -means such as, for instance, the turn-buckle I'I may be operatively interposed between the arms 8 and 9, either to increase or decrease the tension or to give the prongs 4 and 5 a definite setting with relation to each other. Thus, for instance, by passing the arms 8 and 9 through the forked ends I8 of the oppositely threaded Vscrew posts I9 and 20, the extent to which the inward tension of the arms 8 and 9 in the direction of the arrows I`3 may intermesh the teasels I and 2, may

be limited by the adjustment of the connecting nut or sleeve 2l of the turn-buckle. Conversely, by tensioning the arms 8 and 9 outwardly, that is, in the direction of the arrows I4, and by making4 the ends I8 closed eyelets so as to exert inward tension upon the arms 8 and 9 in the direction of the arrows I3, the meshing of the teasels I and 2 may again be controlled by the setting of the nut or operatingrsleeve 2| of the turn-buckle II. Y'

The` teasel support may be mounted in any suitable and convenient manner (not shown) upon the thread guide bar of winding machines for spooling the originalkskein'of silk, as for instance, the Fletcher `typeskein winder or the Stonington Winder of The Atwood Machine Company (Stonington, Connecticut), or, as for instance, the Sipp Winder of the Sipp Machine Company (Paterson, New Jersey); the teaselsupport 1 being mounted in a position so vthat the silk thre-ad'or filament passes through the pair of teasels in the manner indicated in Figures 1 and'2 on its way from the skein to the spool. Y 1

VThe teasel support mayA also be mounted upon any twisting machine, as for instance, the Atwood twister of The Atwood Machine Company, or on any other of the many twisting or yarn spinning or yarn throwing machines; at a point intermediate the plurality of supply spools which supply the individual silk iilaments or threads and the gathering collar or ring through which the individual threads are brought together to the tensioning rolls prior to being twisted together and wound on the final spool.

The silk threads are preferably passed through teasels individually, but they may also be passed through the teasels in multiple just before being twisted together on the twisting or spinning machine.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, preferably two successive pairs of teasels are provided for each cleaning operation, as for instance, shown in Figure 1, with the co-plane of the axes of one pair being at, a right angle to the co-plane of the axes of the other pair. Thus,

for instance, the plane common to the axes of the teasels I and 2 is more or less at a right angle to the plane common to the axes of the teasels 22 and 23. The teasels 22 and 23 are similarly supported upon teasel support 24 which may be similar to the teasel support 'I but disposed generally at a right angle thereto.

in ythis manner the silk thread or filament 3 is acted upon in succession by the edges of the barbs in two or more different directions, so that the slubs, fuzz, slacks, knobs and other dirt which may perhaps not be removed by the rst pair of teasels is then caught and removed by the second pair of teasels whose common plane extends transversely of the common plane of the first pair of teasels. Thus, the silk thread or ilament may be contacted by the barbs of the teasels generally throughout its entire circumference.

The teasels may also be arranged on a support which will impart to the teasels a slight vibration so as to expose diierent parts of the edges of the barbs to the moving silk thread or lament.

By reason of the resiliency of the barbs, bracts or awns of the teasel, the impurities may be removed while the knots may pass through the teasels without undue strain on the silk.

When a pair of teasels has been used for any length of time and has thereby accumulated a substantial amount of the dirt and other matter from the silk, it is merely necessary to separate the teasels and give each of the teasels a slight turn so as to bring a different set of barbs or awns of the pair of teasels into meshing relation and into contact with the silk. This turning may be effected until the whole of each of said pair of teasels has been so used, when the teasel can either be cleaned out in its entirety or may be replaced with a new teasel by merely slipping the old teasel off the prongs and slipping a new teasel in its place.

While in the preferred embodiment of the present invention the concave side of the barbs of the teasel are arranged to face the oncoming thread, yet this may be reversed so that the converse side of the barby of the teasel may face the oncoming thread.

While the members I, 2, 22 and 23 shown in the drawings are teasels or more particularly, fuller's teasels, other barbed teasel-like natural growths may be used and the term teasel as used in the claims is intended to comprehend other natural barbed vegetable growths having stiff barbs capable of removing dirt from yarn passed therethrough.

The present invention may be embodied in other specii'ic forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is hereby claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1. Yarn-cleaning apparatus for cleaning yarn in motion comprising a natural growth teasel in the path of motion of the yarn and means for supporting said teasel in the path of motion of the yarn in a relatively stationary manner with the edges of the Ybarbs thereof in contact with the moving yarn.

2. Yarn-cleaning apparatus for cleaning yarn in motion comprising a pair of intermeshed natural growth teasels in the path of motion of the yarn and means for supporting said pair of intermeshed teasels in the path of motion of the yarn in a relatively stationary manner with the edges of the barbs therof in contact with the moving yarn.

3. Yarn-cleaning apparatus comprising a pair of intermeshed natural growth teasels with their axes more or less in the same plane and means for supporting the intermeshed Zone of said teasels in the path of the moving thread to be Cleaned with the axis thereof more or less parallel to the direction of motion of the thread.

ERNEST A. FEUSTEL. 

